The Best Buy Health and Nutrition Toolkit: Researching the Effectiveness of Improving Educational Outcomes in Rural China

Studies show high levels of anemia, nearsightedness, intestinal worms, and poor health and sanitation among children in China’s rural boarding schools. This project is first measuring initial health and nutrition levels of students in a randomized control setting, then deploying a toolkit of affordable and sustainable interventions in a set of treatment schools that includes multivitamins, eyeglasses, deworming medication, and nutrition and sanitation training for parents and educators. Finally, the project will assess what works and what does not by comparing improvements in academic performance in treatment and control groups. The results of this experiment are intended to inform education and nutrition policy in China at the central and provincial levels.